1) Elementary tactics for fighting against superior enemy forces.The map lacks the "Hypnosis" spell. However, the Necropolis contains the High Priest Rasus, a cousin of Maurl Drakon (from his biography), who possesses an enhanced version of the "Hypnosis" spell (default name: Astral).
“Hypnosis” became the starting point for creating this map. Drakon's army includes small groups of units: Trogolodytes, Harpies, Manticores, and Minotaurs. Two of these groups are immediately affected by hypnosis in the first round, while the remaining two can be weakened with combat magic and then hypnotized. In a battle against Drakon, it is sufficient to place a zombified enemy unit in a way that allows a player's unit to hide in the resulting pocket. After that, the battle follows a well-established scenario: the enemy spawns Earth Elementals, revives units, and remains inactive because it cannot attack its own units (a Shrine can also serve this purpose, and it is intentionally given to Drakon on this map).
The ban on the "Vulnerability Aura," "Summon Elemental," and "Suffocation" spells is intended to emphasize the use of "Hypnosis."
The "Spirit of Despair" spell has been removed to create a challenging situation, as Drakon sometimes gains morale and easily kills a significant number of the player's troops with Black Dragons (40 in the first game month). Initial settings for the primary skills of potential duelists: Maurl Drakon 15-50-80-40, High Priest Rasus 2-2-80-60. It is clear why it is so difficult to defeat the Black Dragons.
In the map's rumors, we find one of the hints:
"There are advanced scholars in the heroic lands! They can teach you a lot!"
Rasus himself possesses the expert skill "Scholar." Thus, we can transfer combat, enhancing, accelerating, and restraining magic from level 1 to level 4 to the main hero.
Maurl Drakon has only two types of magic: "Summon Earth Elementals" and "Resurrection." His magic reserve is limited to no more than 500 spells. The magic reserve of High Priest Rasus can reach about 2000 spells (near a Magic Spring).
In the final battle with Sir Tolikandro, there were 6 Mighty Gorgons, 4 Royal Griffins, and 1 Angel. Sir Tolikandro first weakened and then hypnotized the stacks of Manticores and Minotaurs and used them to kill the Black Dragons (and Drakon periodically restored the number of hypnotized units...).
You can download the video of the final battle from Sir Tolikandro here:
battle.
After the excellent tactics of Sir Tolikandro, it became clear that it was possible to engage Drakon in battle with 3-6 Flying Snakes or 3-6 Pixies. I just tested it in my final game (dismissed troops and summoned 6 Pixies): the first round - blinding the Beholders (3 Pixies were killed due to the high morale of Drakon's troops), the second round - hypnotizing the Harpies, I stand near the Shrine and hide behind the Harpies (another 2 Pixies disappeared), the third round - then everything is as in the tactics above. After 5 minutes of battle, Drakon had already destroyed 10 Black Dragons. I am incredibly surprised! What about the other players? I gave Sir Tolikandro three Angels of Fortune for his ingenuity and resourcefulness.My tactics for the final battle: hypnotizing Harpies, blinding Beholders, creating several pockets to protect the stack of Devils, Devils' unprovoked attacks, Star Shower, Haste, Assassin, etc. Based on these tactics, the main conditions of the map were devised.
More than 4000 Earth Elementals summoned by Maurl Drakon are easily destroyed by the Star Shower spell, as they are vulnerable to it - this was part of the lesson.
The meaning of the First lesson is the ability to create pockets from hypnotized enemy units to protect your own unit(s).P.S. I recommend that players who did not participate in this tournament repeat the final battle of Sir Tolikandro.
It is also worth remembering that the "deadly gaze" of the Mighty Gorgons effectively destroys a stack of Black Dragons (Sir Larkin's game).
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2) Application of special necromantic methods.I wanted to create a lesson on obtaining Bone Dragons in a rare way. Not all players know that in the "Skeleton Factory" building of the Necropolis, Hydras and any Dragons can be transformed into Bone Dragons (the map has two Hydra dwellings and one Red Dragon dwelling).
Thus, players were offered several options for obtaining Bone Dragons to complete the quest "Bring three Bone Dragons for 10 Devils":
a) use the Skeleton Factory in the Necropolis and transform 2 Hydras and 1 Red Dragon (Sir Radosvet's game);
b) break through the guard of one, two, or three outer Dragon Tombs around the Necropolis and conquer these dwellings (Sir Larkin and iceTITaN's games);
c) build a Dragon Tomb in the Necropolis.
The meaning of the Second lesson is useful knowledge about transforming Hydras and any Dragons into Bone Dragons in the Skeleton Factory.
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3) The ability of heroes to optimally cross terrain.In the underground world, 100% of the area is occupied by the "Quicksand" swamp.
Several options were conceived for moving along the narrow path of the swamp in the Dungeon, with the goal of bringing one Rider and transforming him into a Champion in the outer Stable (or in the Fortress on the Hill, or in the corresponding building of the Castle):
- with an expert (or lower) skill in "Pathfinding";
- with units in the army that have a terrain penalty (Riders, etc.);
- with only swamp units in the army;
- without troops (before completing the 8x5x1 quest, leave only one Rider).
The Portal rules state:
"It is forbidden to leave a hero without troops (except in cases where this occurs when completing a quest)."
The meaning of the Third lesson is the ability to move optimally through difficult terrain.
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Several secrets on the map:1) transparent bodies of water behind the Granary (2x0x0), with which you can create a boat;
2) shipwrecked ships on the water behind the Alchemist Laboratories, behind the Tombs, behind the Castle, behind the bushes, behind the Obelisk, etc.;
3) An event at 25x6x1 gives 99999999 units of experience, the artifact Angelic Union, 64 Trolls, and increases 4 skills by 16 units each (Sir Ravenswood's game).
Map surprise:- 16 Hydras (8x24x0), guarding the Dragon Tomb, can be destroyed by one Harpy-Witch, one Fairy, or one Devil, as a pocket was accidentally formed on the battlefield, preventing large units from passing.
Generation of the initial save:- the option with the Sphere of Fire and the Necklace of Celestial Bliss was chosen for the shipwrecked ships in the bodies of water of our Green hero. Adrian and Luna became the main sorceresses for the generated save.
Excessive Experiment:Monthly events on the map cost 40000 gold (so-called tribute), build structures in the city of Drakon, and increase his troops with additional units. Multiple tests have shown that the appearance of a second echelon of enemy heroes (Drakon himself is limited to five steps) makes the player's victory very problematic. Most likely, no player would want to drag it out for a whole year to accumulate troops, but as the author of the map, I wanted to design a terrifying invasion of the enemy for the particularly patient. ))
